This invention relates to supplementary fastening devices in the form of a flexible and elastically elongatable loop for securing any typically shaped hook, such as an ordinary hook of a garment hanger, to a generally linear member such as a clothesline, cable, rod or the like to which the hook is attached by being hooked to the linear member. It also relates to devices for fastening an object to a generally linear member, such devices being comprised of the combination of a hook, to which the object is or can be attached, and a flexible and elastically elongatable loop-type fastening device. It further relates to methods for fastening a hook to a linear member using a loop-type fastening device, to a device and a method for providing for an increase in the stretchable length of the loop part of such a fastening device, and to methods for providing for the removal of a loop-type fastening device.
A bendable loop-type hook fastening device is set forth in French Patent No. 1.500.741 issued to Jacob. A semi-rigid loop-type clip adapted to close the hook opening of hooks having substantially parallel sections is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,309 issued to Beimler. An elongatable link in the form of an elastic strip of material having two longitudinally spaced holes and adapted to close the opening of a hook in a manner similar to that shown in Biemler, is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 2,877,941 issued to Melone.
There has long been a need for a practical fastening device which could fasten the hook of an ordinary unmodified garment hanger or other hook including device to a clothesline or other comparatively thin generally linear member. In the case of garment hangers, they are commonly used for holding various items of clothing while they dry after being washed. When suspended from a clothesline, garment hangers are often blown by the wind along the clothesline with the result that several suspended garment hangers may bunch together and thereby retard the drying. In gusty winds, suspended garment hangers are often blown off the clothesline.
Some of the previous attempts to solve these problems have involved modifications to, or replacement of, the hook of the garment hanger. In some cases this has resulted in a device which was very limited in the range of diameters of supporting clotheslines which could be accomodated by the device. Nearly always, such devices resulted in higher product cost. Other attempts have involved devices which attach to the clothesline and then, in turn, suspend the garment hanger hook from the device itself. These devices appear to be costly and/or ineffectual at retaining the hook in suspension under adverse conditions. The bendable loop set forth in French Patent No. 1.500.741 is a separate fastening device which does fasten a hook to a clothesline. However, this device is quite limited in the range of hook and clothesline sizes which it can accomodate and is also limited in the amount of clamping force which it can exert on the hook and the clothesline. A loop such as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,309 is essentially a device for closing the opening of a hook and it generally does not exert any clamping force between the hook and its support, particularly when that support is a comparatively small diameter linear member such as a clothesline. The elastically elongatable link having two longitudinally spaced holes for accomodating the shank and end portions of a garment hanger hook, presented in U.S. Pat. No. 2,877,941, is likewise a hook-closing device and it also does not exert any clamping force when the hook is supported from a linear member of the comparative size of a clothesline.
To alleviate problems such as the foregoing, this invention provides a simple and inexpensive to manufacture supplementary fastening device for securing the hook of an ordinary unmodified garment hanger or other hook including device to a clothesline or other linear member, particularly a comparatively thin linear member, to which the hook has been hooked in the normal manner. This is accomplished by means of a flexible and elastically elongatable loop which is installed on the hook and the linear member so as to bind them together to prevent disengagement of the hook from the linear member and to resist slippage of the hook along the linear member. The loop is generally provided with a handle or other structure which greatly improves the manipulatability of the fastening device, particularly in removing the fastening device from its fastening position, and which may also take up some of the slack in the loop. Methods are presented for installing the fastening device and methods are also presented for providing for its removal.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a supplementary fastening device for fastening any typically shaped hook such as the hook of a garment hanger or other hook or generally curved member including device to a clothesline or other generally linear member to which the hook is attached by being hooked to the linear member.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a fastening device, for securing any typically shaped hook or generally curved member to a generally linear member, which is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use, which will tend to prevent a hook, which is hooked to a linear member, from being unintentionally unhooked from the linear member, and/or which will tend to prevent a hook, which is hooked to a linear member, from being displaced along the direction of the linear member.
Another object of this invention is to provide a connecting device comprised of the combination of a hook and an elastically elongatable loop-type fastening device, for generally fastening an object to a linear member.
A further object of this invention is to provide methods for securing a hook to a linear member, for fastening an object to a linear member through the use of a hook and an elastically elongatable loop-type fastening device, for providing for an increase in the stretchable length of the loop portion of a loop-type fastening device, and for providing for expeditious and convenient removal of a loop-type fastening device from its fastening position.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the detailed description hereinafter presented, taken in conjunction with the drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.